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47-934: The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a fantasy role-playing game published by Palladium Books in 1983. This game is set in the "Palladium world" 10,000 years after a great war between the elves and dwarves . Some critics noted that this game, created only a few years after Advanced Dungeons & Dragons , has many similarities. Similar to AD&D , players can choose from one of several races for their player character , including human, elf, gnome, and dwarf. Unlike AD&D , there are several other races players can also choose including troglodyte, kobold, goblin, orc, changeling, troll, and wolfen (a hybrid human/wolf race). Players then can choose from character classes that are roughly analogous to those in AD&;D : Warrior, wizard, cleric, thief, etc. Similarly, alignment , hit points and experience points all work in much

94-462: A campaign world and a brief but imaginative introductory scenario." However, he concluded that since it was only a book, "At a price of $ 20 for a paperback, only a fair value." In the May-June 1985 edition of Space Gamer (Issue No. 74), Jerry Epperson was more ambivalent, saying " The Palladium Role-Playing Game is a game that aspired to greatness but fell just a little short of the mark. With

141-635: A complaint with the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau in Michigan, with claims of filing becoming more public in December 2015 during speculative discussions from Siembieda's comments regarding the game. Palladium made few statements regarding Robotech RPG Tactics through 2015, particularly regarding specific release dates. However, in January 2016, Siembieda released a statement on

188-463: A little bit of everything, from orcs and lost temples to pirates and crazed cult assassins... What it lacks in organization and sophistication it more than makes up for in enthusiasm and imagination." Ten years later, in the December 1997 edition of Dragon (Issue 242), Rick Swan reviewed the second edition of Adventures on the High Seas , published in 1996, and called it "another winner." He rated

235-507: A lower cost than many other game lines. Although Palladium did not establish the use of universal game mechanics , it was one of the first companies to successfully create role-playing games in multiple genres; for this reason, its house system may be described as " Megaversal " – "not universal, but more than just one world". Palladium has licensed several of their intellectual properties to third-party developers. The first book ever published by another company under license from Palladium

282-539: A simple skills system. A good alternative to the better known Fantasy RPGs." Palladium Books The first game released by Palladium Books was The Mechanoid Invasion in 1981, followed by the first-editions of The Palladium Role-Playing Game in 1983 and Heroes Unlimited in 1984, with The Valley of the Pharaohs released between the two. Other popular titles include adaptations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1985) and Robotech (1986). Palladium

329-649: A war between them that ended ten thousand years ago. With the success in the late 1970s of the fantasy role-playing games Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ( TSR , 1977) and Runequest ( Chaosium , 1977), several companies published similar games in the hopes of enjoying the same success. Palladium Books decided to enter the market in 1983 with Palladium Role-Playing Game , a 274-page book designed by Kevin Siembieda and Erick Wujcik , with illustrations by Sembieda and Michael Kucharski. This edition underwent several minor revisions with various changes in cover art over

376-410: Is entirely controlled and owned by Siembieda. Some writers who have been published by Palladium have stated that Siembieda's method of management was too centralized and not adapted to the size the company had reached (no delegation of responsibilities, lack of open dialogue with employees, bad interpersonal relationships), which they cited as a reason they were no longer working for the company. One of

423-407: Is no need to add weapons to those already in most FRPG; but if you must, you'll need to look them up in a good source to get some detail. Ten times as much information about a tenth as many weapons, presented more professionally, would have been much more useful. In short, Weapons is virtually useless." The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games Too Many Requests If you report this error to

470-511: Is not allowed in venues owned by Palladium Books. Palladium also routinely threatens legal action against fans who distribute conversions in other venues by issuance of cease and desist orders. When asked why Palladium was so much stricter in regard to conversions than other game companies, Siembieda stated that the policy had been adopted due to advice from Palladium's lawyers, to shield Palladium from liability for conversions of other parties' intellectual property. The sole exception to this policy

517-675: Is the licensing agreement held with Pinnacle Entertainment Group for conversion of the Rifts line to the Savage Worlds system. Weapons is a 1981 fantasy role-playing game supplement published by Turtle Press . Weapons is a compendium of virtually every edged or impact melee weapon used in any medieval or primitive culture. Weapons is an indexed sourcebook describing hundreds of different melee weapons, each illustrated. Weapons are covered in six sections: Swords, Knives, Hafted Weapons, Spears, Pole Arms, and Miscellaneous. Weapons

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564-620: Is with sadness and tremendous heartbreak that I announce that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to produce the Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards. Moreover, after proudly carrying the legacy of Robotech in the role-playing games medium for 30 years, our license has expired and is not being renewed. ...As part of our license agreement, Palladium has a short window (from now until the end of March) to liquidate our stock of Robotech RPG Tactics (RRT) products, Robotech Shadow Chronicles Role-Playing Game books, and

611-510: The Kingsport Times-News revealed that Steve Sheiring, Palladium's former sales manager, had been sentenced in a plea bargain to a misdemeanor conviction , one year of probation , and ordered to pay $ 47,080 in restitution to Palladium Books in connection with these thefts. It also provided more information about the thefts, which took place from 2002 to 2004, and were only discovered when Palladium took inventory. Palladium

658-584: The Savage Worlds game system. Multiple books, maps, and other supplements for Savage Worlds: Rifts have been released in the years since. On April 19, 2006, Siembieda issued a statement that revealed Palladium's critical financial difficulties due to alleged embezzlement and theft resulting in losses from $ 850,000 to $ 1.3 million, coupled with a series of delays in negotiating license deals for their properties in other media (the Nokia N-Gage game,

705-408: The 5,200+ Kickstarter backers...I implore you to say " yes ." Please give us your permission. We believe it would be disastrous not to have the small selection of items I've listed available for sale. Not having them will hurt the launch of Robotech RPG Tactics and Palladium Books...Anyone who does NOT respond by July 21st [2014], we will consider to be a " yes ". Ultimately, Palladium proceeded with

752-470: The Jerry Bruckheimer movie, a massively multiplayer online game license, and other potential deals). They raised money to continue operations by selling a signed and numbered – but not, strictly speaking, " limited edition " – art print by Siembieda, as well as by urging fans to buy directly from their online store if their financial situations would allow for it. An April 26, 2006, article in

799-639: The Kickstarter project page remaining silent regarding the second portion of backer rewards: ...As I have stated, for strategic and business reasons we have been unable to share with you everything Palladium has been exploring, considering and working on. As you know, one of the things we have been doing is looking into and considering possible ways to reduce part counts and make the game pieces easier to put together. As we get into actual production and manufacturing for Wave Two this year, we will share plenty with you. And we think you'll be pleased. Considering all

846-598: The May 1984 edition of Dragon (Issue 85), Ken Rolston thought this RPG compared very favorably to the industry giant, AD&D . His only caveat was that for the relatively high price — $ 20 — it should have included a box, dice and other player materials. However, he admired the "Attractive combat and skill systems. First-class magical character classes — complete with magical circles, mystic symbols, and elemental magics — offer simple but comprehensive fantasy magic. Nice treatment of alignments and deities. Contains an outline of

893-510: The PDFs of the original Robotech RPG series currently available Palladium's Robotech license ended on March 31, 2018. Palladium is aggressive in preventing wide distribution of fan-made conversions of their games to other systems (such as the D20 System ), and also strongly discourages converting the intellectual property of others into their system; while they cannot prevent it, doing so

940-675: The US been made by Palladium, despite reports of Robotech RPG Tactics boxed-sets appearing in shops outside the United States. International backers began receiving items mid April 2015. At Gen Con 2014, an attendee received one unopened core box game used for display at Gen Con and recorded an unboxing video of Robotech RPG Tactics to allow backers to see the final production quality. Subsequently, many fans expressed concern over several production oversights and issues. Notably, included game pieces were missing paint, paper materials used to play

987-567: The Wave 2 rewards, and that due to the end of the Robotech license, Palladium Books would no longer try to produce and support Robotech RPG Tactics after March 31, 2018, although the game was still announced at Adepticon and Anime North, both events happening after the end of license. Furthermore, Siembieda claimed that the production of Wave 1 items had cost $ 1.5 million and so Palladium was not able to produce Wave 2 since 2015, at which time, Wave 1

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1034-496: The advent of RuneQuest , The Fantasy Trip , and Lands of Adventure , Palladium is just a little out of step. GMs who are looking to add spice to their D&D games, or who really don't demand a great deal of realism from game mechanics, should by all means pick up Palladium . But if you're searching for the ultimate in 'realism' and innovative design . . . keep looking." In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games , game critic Rick Swan thought that this game

1081-525: The book 5 out of 6, saying, "The seafaring stuff [is] the best of its kind I’ve ever seen." In Issue 8 of the British games magazine Arcane , Andy Butcher reviewed the 2nd edition of the game, and commented, "if you haven't got any of the other [Palladium] games and your campaign is based firmly in the Palladium World, then there's a great deal of useful stuff here." Butcher concluded by giving

1128-556: The delays and frustration of the past, we do not want to even speculate on release dates and other details until we have hard, solid information we are confident with ourselves. As of February 2016, only 176 backers of over 5000 had claimed receipt of their full backer rewards, and more than 1000 days had passed since the initial Kickstarter project ended. The Better Business Bureau had 14 complaints directed toward Palladium Books between July 2014 and February 2016. On February 27, 2018, Siembieda announced that they were unable to fulfill

1175-451: The game a rating of 2.5 out of 4, saying, "I can't imagine many players preferring this to AD&D , RuneQuest or any other of the established fantasy games." In Issue 127 of Dragon , Ken Rolston reviewed the regional adventure guide Adventures on the High Seas , published in 1987, and found much to his liking: "The Palladium fantasy campaign world is full of magic and monsters, just like FRP campaigns should be, and this pack contains

1222-711: The game an average rating of 7 out of 10 overall. Butcher comments that Later that year, in a reader poll conducted by Arcane to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, The Palladium Fantasy RPG was ranked 26th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Well, the rules are almost identical to those in Palladium's Rifts roleplaying system, and as such it's well suited to existing players of that game, who will have little to learn. Even newcomers should have little difficulty with The Palladium Fantasy RPG , though. The rules lie somewhere between AD&D and Rolemaster in complexity, and combine character classes with

1269-415: The game were missing altogether from all units shipped, game pieces contained manufacturing errors such as injection mold seams and pitted surfaces, and assembly instructions were vague or inaccurate with context to materials shown to backers throughout the Kickstarter campaign. In Update #154 to Kickstarter backers, Palladium issued a brief apology to backers and fans, "Oh, and we only recently realized that

1316-520: The long history of the Palladium world, which is divided into several ages. The game is set on a single continent and several nearby islands. The climate varies from tropical in the south to subarctic in the north. The continent and islands are divided into several nations. In addition, there are racial alliances and hostilities — for example, although humans are allied to both elves and dwarves, those two races are still hostile to each other because of

1363-474: The next ten years. In addition, Palladium published several sourcebooks with more information about the settings. In 1996, Palladium introduced an expanded second edition retitled Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game , a 336-page book created by Siembieda, with cover art by Martin McKenna and interior art by McKenna, Siembieda, Flint Henry, Scott Johnson, Michael Kucharski, Vince Martin, and Randall K. Post. In

1410-590: The plastic blast template is not painted, and it is too late to do anything about it now. This detail slipped past all of us – Palladium, Ninja Division, the factory, everyone. Sorry. It still looks great, is a quality piece of plastic and is easy to use." Printed materials missing from initial backer rewards were later released in low resolution watermarked PDF format on the website DriveThru RPG for backers to print copies along with updated assembly instructions to all game pieces requiring assembly, free of charge. In September 2015, several backers openly discussed filing

1457-608: The project and mostly its end has been criticized by backers and heavily voiced on multiple platforms. Some questioned the handling of the funds, to which Palladium Books responded with a pie chart missing a certain number of pertinent information (% tax paid, % of funds received as part of the BackerKit in September 2013...) A certain number of backers requested cash refunds as per the Terms of Services signed by Palladium at

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1504-483: The projection to Spring/Summer of 2014; later the date was shifted again, to late Summer/Autumn 2014, with international backers several months after. Siembieda and Palladium attributed these shifting dates to a number of unforeseen issues including Chinese New Year causing production to start later than expected. On September 25, 2013, Update #113 echoed the intention of a holiday release and promised Kickstarter backers receipt of product prior to retail distribution. This

1551-414: The public until backer rewards were fully delivered. Siembieda wrote: ...I announced we are planning to bring some Robotech RPG Tactics product to sell. A few hundred of six items: the main box game, four of the expansion packs (Tomahawk/Defender Destroids, Regult Battlepods, Artillery Battlepods, and Glaug Command) and the rule book. That would mean a few hundred people will get these items before most of

1598-568: The rights to make a film based on Rifts . At the time, Bruckheimer was said to be developing the movie in conjunction with screenwriter David Franzoni . An April 19, 2006, press release asserted that "until Jerry Bruckheimer has a script he loves, the movie can't get the green light." In the April 14, 2011, weekly update, Siembieda said that the film option would be renewed for a ninth year. In 2015, Palladium entered into an agreement with Pinnacle Entertainment Group to publish Rifts material under

1645-539: The sale despite disputes over the results of the survey. Several days before Gen Con, Palladium received word the shipping containers containing Robotech RPG Tactics had been tagged for inspection by US Customs, subsequently blocking any opportunity to take the game to Gen Con and further delaying shipment to backers, projected at the time to arrive in early to mid-September 2014 for US residents. International backers had not received their backer rewards prior to April 2015, nor had report of backer rewards shipping outside of

1692-421: The same way as in AD&D . Character classes determine which skills are available to the character, and grant access to abilities like spellcasting. Characters can leave one class to pursue another. There are several different kinds of magic as well as psychic powers. Magic is powered by Potential Psychic Energy (P.P.E.), while psychic powers are fueled by Inner Strength Points (I.S.P.). The book delves into

1739-504: The skill and knowledge required to pick through hundreds of books to create a general overview of medieval armor and armaments. The Palladium Book of Weapons & Armor (1981) was the first of several books Balent compiled for Palladium. Balent also compiled The Palladium Book of Weapons & Castles in 1982. Lewis Pulsipher reviewed Weapons in The Space Gamer No. 43. Pulsipher commented that "In my view there

1786-673: The time of the launch and their position in 2014. As of today, Palladium has yet to respond to questions regarding the usage of the funds and the refund due as stated by Siembieda and his staff as well as the Kickstarter Terms of Service. On February 27, 2018, Palladium Books announced they had lost the Robotech IP as it was not renewed by Harmony Gold , the current IP owner. Palladium had announced that Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two kickstarter had been canceled. Siembieda went on to announce on their kickstarter page: So it

1833-469: The update implied the second wave of items were nearing production. Citing no specific dates however, Palladium estimated mid to late October 2014 as the general time Kickstarter rewards would be available for delivery to backers. On July 14, 2014, Palladium issued a plea to backers seeking permission to sell any available copies of Robotech RPG Tactics to attendees of Gen Con 2014, a perceived divergence from an earlier promise to make copies unavailable to

1880-496: The writers later apologized for the manner in which he made his statements, but did not retract his claims. Palladium and Siembieda continue to receive criticism regarding the handling of Robotech RPG Tactics after a successful Kickstarter campaign raising $ 1,442,312 from 5,342 backers, ending on May 20, 2013. During the campaign, Palladium specified an intended release date of Robotech RPG Tactics as early as 2013 Holiday Season. Shortly before expected release, Palladium shifted

1927-538: Was Rifts: Manhunter from Myrmidon Press, released December 1994. Palladium cancelled the license in May 1996. In October 2000, Rifts was licensed to the now defunct Precedence Entertainment for a collectible card game . In May 2004, Rifts was licensed to create the Rifts: Promise of Power video game for the failed Nokia N-Gage gaming platform. In May 2003, Palladium announced that Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Walt Disney Pictures had optioned

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1974-400: Was also one of the major distributors of Robotech merchandise for several years. Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, all of Palladium's licenses lapsed and were not pursued for renewal. In September 2007, Palladium finalized negotiations with Harmony Gold USA to produce Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Role-Playing Game , an RPG based on Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles . This license

2021-459: Was discontinued in 2018. Palladium claims that it was the first publisher in the RPG industry to adopt the practice of perfect binding its books, a move that has since been emulated by many other companies. Palladium also releases most of its titles in paperback, whereas other major RPG publishers mostly publish hardback editions. This format choice has allowed Palladium to provide full sourcebooks at

2068-735: Was followed by an update in November 2013 listing several unforeseen issues holding up production and further delay. On September 8, 2014, several Kickstarter backers indicated receipt of their copies of the game, while the remainder of rewards were awaiting delivery from China via cargo ship. There were six cargo ships containing backer rewards, as indicated in Update #156 to Kickstarter backers. This same update also provided some clarification on delivery schedules and outlined Palladium's 'two wave' product release schedule designed to offset additional delay in providing promised products. Some backers perceived

2115-429: Was shipping. As way to liquidate the overstock of Robotech RPG Tactics products before the license ended, Palladium offered a rewards swap process with arbitrary valuation heavily in favor of Palladium Books. They also required that Backers who wished to receive Wave 1 items in lieu of Wave 2 pay the shipping to their location in advance as well as renouncing any and all legal claims against Palladium Books. The manner

2162-556: Was too similar to AD&D , noting that there were "no new systems, no new approaches, no new insights. The character classes ... aren't dramatically different from AD&D , nor are basic concepts such as alignment, experience points and saving throws." Swan allowed that the combat system was original but found it too complex. However, Swan found some of the game elements such as the magic system, religion, and fairy lore "informative and fun to read.", and thought they could be easily transferred to other fantasy RPGs. Swan concluded by giving

2209-558: Was written by Matthew Balent and published in 1981 by Turtle Press, and was later revised and included in The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles . Matthew Balent was one of a few future Palladium writers who Siembieda met through the Detroit Gaming Center. At the time, Balent was working on a reference book that could be used in fantasy roleplaying games. Balent was a Library Sciences graduate, and had

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